Keweenaw Waters Resort — Hotel in Houghton

The place is extremely new and clean. There is close by construction and the accompanying noise but the webpage is very upfront about the construction, so I was aware from the beginning. Honestly, the construction noise was not bothersome to me.

It was very easy to book and I thought the price was fair for a one bedroom. I really really appreciate the high quality washer and dryer in the unit and the laundry detergent and dryer sheets. The in-unit washer and dryer are the primary reason I picked this particular lodging, as we were returning from several days from Isle Royale. The shower was really nice, too. The check in and check out process was easy to manage.

To enter the unit, one has to descend a steep flight of stairs. Not usually an issue, but my 12 year old has a broken foot. I did not recall the website giving an indication of the stairs. The stairs are not the reason for the 3 star review, though, but something to be aware of when booking.

Here are the issues: There is no ventilation or cross breeze. The apartment was extremely stuffy. One window opens (the one in the bedroom) None of the other windows open. There is no screen on the door leading to the outside from the main room and the door also doesn't have a feature where it will stay open. I did open the door for a little while, propping it open with my suitcase. The bedroom window that does open looks directly out into the bedroom window of the adjacent unit. In order to give privacy, one has to pull the shades or dark curtains over the window, thus impeding the purpose of opening a window. I cannot say enough how suffocating it felt to be inside such a still, airless unit. It was also surprising that no box or oscillating fan was included in the unit. It has been a long time since I have booked a place and not had a fan in the unit. Was there a ceiling fan? I cant even remember. But I don't think there was. Im sure there wasn't a ceiling fan because of there was one, I would have turned it on.

There is no shade or curtain on the door leading from the living area to the outside. So anyone walking around the area at night can look in. Which was creepy AF considering that is the living and sleeping area. Also there is a really bright porch light outside to illuminate the patio area. Great! But you cannot turn it off. We flipped all the switches, but the light still remained. The light shines nice and bright, which is not so great for the person sleeping in the living room.

We are two adults and a 12 year old. The other adult and I are former partners and co-parents of the 12 year old. We do a family vacation once a year and when there are only 2 beds, we trade off sleeping with the kid. I ended up on the sofa bed the night we stayed at Keweenaw Watersbecause I stayed up late to work on my laptop at the kitchen table and also to fold the laundry when I was done. I am 50 years old and have slept on many pull out beds in my life time, including every time I visit my mom. Have you ever seen the episode of Seinfeld, where Elaine sleeps on Mr and Mrs Seinfeld's sofa bed? Yeah, I was Elaine. The mattress of the sofabed is so thin and shoddy, it might as well be a single layer of straw with two metal bars running through it. I have never slept so uncomfortably in my lifetime as I did that night. I say "slept" but there was no sleeping. The bars of the sofa bed made it impossible to sleep. I would have had a more restful sleep on a concrete floor. The pain of the bars digging into my back and ribs as I moved all over the bed trying desperately to find a comfortable position was incredible. I actually had muscle spasms in my ribs the next day.

This place has a lot of great reviews and I am not saying any of them are incorrect. It is nice and new and clean. But I am willing to bet that none of the people who wrote the great reviews slept in the one bedroom ground level unit on the medieval torture device cleverly disguised...

This was a last minute reservation for us as we decided to stay in Houghton as opposed to the Gogebic Lake area. We figured, Houghton would be a good jumping off point in the UP to see things to the North, South, East, and West. This campground popped up and we decided to take a shot. We knew it was still under construction but figured there would be enough things available for us to use that we'd still enjoy our stay there, and we were right.

Pro's:

1. Nice, new park with clean bathrooms, showers, etc...
2. Nice camp store on-sight with rv supplies, drinks, snacks, etc...
3. Beautiful views from the riverfront sites.
4. River walking path that runs the full length of the park is nice. Along with seating, benches, and pergola's so everyone can enjoy the river, not just those with riverfront sites. Small Tip for Campground ownership/managers (if they even read these things) -- Add propane fire pits to each small circle of Adirondack chairs (that would be awesome and everyone would be spending their evenings down there)
5. Good amenities for the kiddo's including a jump pad, pump track for bikes, and dock for fishing.
6. Boat dock with rent-able slips so you can bring your water toys.
7. Convenient location to town. Walmart is 3 minutes away, and the bridge is 3 minutes away.
8. Cabin's are also available for rent and they looked fresh and new as well.
9. Fishing wasn't half bad! Caught a good size pike and a couple smallies!

Con's:

1. Skinny interior roads. Not the easiest RV park to traverse with a 45'+ Fifth Wheel but I was able to pick a spot when booking that made our life a bit easier getting in and out of.
2. Construction is still on going and the park is continually being improved. With that comes dust, loud machinery, workers, etc....
3. The sewer connection is a solid 8-10" out of the ground making it tricky to hookup and stay downhill for all the goodies to move properly. Wish these hookups were closer to the ground. We weren't the only site with this issue, as it looked like 90%+ were like this.
4. Gravel on the sites needs to be packed down better as our jacks (even with snap pads on) still sunk down a solid 2-3". Gravel was clean which was nice, but it needs more of it with packing between layers.

From the campground in the area and even up towards Copper Harbor, this seems to be the best. We wouldn't hesitate to stay here again in the future when we decide to come up and...

I visited the Keweenaw Waters Resort as part of a family group of 11 (6 adults, 5 kids under 18 including 1 baby) and would strongly recommend it. It was extremely comfortable and well laid out to accommodate a group of our size, including 2 full refrigerators (plus a bonus drink fridge), a massive dining room table, and both a comfy living space on the main floor and a huge hangout area on the bottom floor where we could gather once the baby was down for the night without worrying about noise. The 5 bedrooms were all comfortable, with blackout curtains and (for the 4 upstairs ones) private attached bathrooms for each. The presence of bedside lamps with multi-prong phone chargers on each was an especially convenient touch.

There were lots of great amenities for the kids, including a foosball table that got a lot of use, a shuffleboard table, a carpeted play area for the baby (the place was clearly almost brand new judging by the newness of the carpet), and a separate downstairs TV they could use for gaming. Two big balconies both had spectacular views of the canal and were a wonderful place to drink a coffee in the morning or a glass of wine in the evening (also included a grill, though we didn't get around to using it). There was plenty of parking available right outside our door that made for easy loading/unloading, and of course in Houghton/Hancock everything you could possibly want (restaurants, grocery stores, parks, shopping, tourist spots) is at most a 10 minute drive away. The local beach (including a MASSIVE chutes & ladders playground setup) and waterfront park is literally a 3 minute drive down the road!

Hard to imagine how they could have done a better job accommodating such a big group. The closest thing to an issue we had was that a couple times we had food deliveries get confused about where to drop our stuff of (it wound up at a nearby RV park) but hopefully those will be resolved in time. Definitely expect we'll be coming back in future years and already looking...